High school football: Youngsters lead Jordan's rout of Fremont

PLAIN CITY — A year ago, then-freshman quarterback Austin Kafentzis led a last-gasp rally that lifted Jordan High to a dramatic season-opening football victory over Fremont.

A year later, Kafentzis is a seasoned sophomore — one who's a little older, a little wiser, and a lot more calm and confident.

And he and the Beetdiggers certainly didn't need any last-ditch comeback to beat the Silver Wolves this time, as Kafentzis threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 112 yards and two more scores as the 'Diggers manhandled Fremont 53-12 on Friday night at Moyes Field.

"I have a lot more experience now," said Kafentzis, who completed 17-of-24 passes and averaged 7 yards per carry when he chose to put his head down and run the ball through Fremont's defense. "I have 13 games under my belt now, so I'm just more experienced than last year and I know the offense more, so I was more calm.

"Our team's closer this year, too. We're way close, so it helps when everyone's just building around each other," he said, giving much of the credit for his performance to his strong offensive line of center B.J. Cavender, guards Zach Larsen and Tyshon Moseley, and tackles Ian Moose and Aaron Rupena.

Jordan running back Clay Moss had 10 carries for 93 yards and scored two touchdowns, the first one coming on a 15-yard rushing burst on Jordan's first drive. Late in the second quarter, he hauled in a short pass from Kafentzis and broke loose to turn it into a 23-yard touchdown play. Kafentzis also had rushing TDs of 12 and 3 yards to help stake the Beetdiggers to a 27-6 halftime lead, then hooked up with Mason Krueger on a 25-yard touchdown pass. He added a 19-yard TD toss to Nick West as Jordan built a 41-12 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Freshman Cooper Clark, who kicked five PATs and also scored on a 4-yard touchdown run, came up with two fourth-quarter interceptions for Jordan, the first of which set up a two-yard TD plunge by Jerome Vaituu.

For Fremont, Garrett Gallegos threw for 188 yards and two touchdowns — a great 20-yard grab by Christian Fehr with time running out in the first half, and an 18-yarder to sophomore Trevor Allen in the third quarter.

"Our kids did a good job," said Jordan coach Eric Kjar. "They came out and played pretty well. I was pretty happy with how hard they played; I thought they played really hard, and I was happy with how well they executed. "Our free safety, Cooper (Clark), is a freshman is all, and he had a couple of picks tonight and he also had to PAT, kickoff and punt today for us, too. For a freshman in his first high school game ever, he did a good job.